“The people of La Guama have very little, but they are like the happiest people on earth,” said rising senior Melody Roberts. “Everyone in La Guama looks out for one another. They care. They are one big happy family.”

“It was truly an amazing spiritual journey and learning experience for everyone involved,” said senior leader Christopher Cali. “This experience has allowed us to grow closer together as a Xaverian community and family. What made this retreat even more special was the way that it brought together kids from all different parts of the school and encouraged them to forge unexpected friendships.”

Standing on the same stage once occupied by Billy Holiday and Michael Jackson, a junior from St. Saviour H.S., Park Slope, poured herself out for her audience during a spoken word competition for teens in Harlem.

“The children of MSC taught me that you don’t need material items or money to be happy,” she said. “They just wanted someone to love them

A total of six students and one faculty member are Eagle Scouts at Xaverian H.S., Bay Ridge.

“It is always a wonderful opportunity to get together with members of the youth group because while we come from so many different schools and backgrounds, we all are linked together by our parish, St. Thomas Aquinas.”

More than 130 seventh- and eighth-grade girls from elementary schools in Queens took part in Summer Fest 2014, an academic enrichment program at The Mary Louis Academy, Jamaica Estates